Save our Mountain

Save our Future

an update from Burma’s largest iron mine

Pinpet Mountain under imminent threat

as iron project speeds ahead
Excavation of Burma’s second largest iron deposit located
in southern Shan State is imminent as bulldozers begin
preparatory clearing on the iconic Pinpet Mountain, home
to 7,000 people. The 300 residents in Pang Ngo village are
in immediate danger from falling rocks and landslides as
machines uproot trees, clear brush and remove top soil on
the west side of the mountain. Farm fields at the foot of the
mountain may be covered with toxic waste soils once the
excavation starts as ore samples at the site have tested
high for arsenic content.

Construction activities at the secretive iron factory

compound are also racing ahead. Underground bunkers
are now complete and a massive new crushing facility (see inside) now
towers above the compound walls. Surveys for uranium conducted on the
mountain in the past continue to fuel persistent concerns that this project is
linked to Burma’s nuclear plans.

Meanwhile according to authorities the forced relocation of nearby villages

will begin after the military regime’s sham elections, beginning with the
extraction of a community graveyard in December. Land confiscation
continues unabated. Local villagers are calling to stop the project, protect
the mountain and save the main waterway for the entire Hopone valley from
toxic pollution before it’s too late. Ancient pagodas on the mountain and near the
factory will be destroyed by the project
Pinpet Iron Project: Basic Facts
Deposit: 70 million tons of hematite and limonite ore
Plant: No (5) steel mill (Pang Pet)
Excavation: 200,000 tons per year for 150 years
Production: Billets and slabs for other iron plants
Location: Taunggyi township, Shan State
Energy use: Will import coal from Kehsi Mansam, natural
gas from Magwe, coal power from Tigyit, and
hydropower from Kengtawng to operate factory
Stakeholders: Tyazhpromexport Company (Russia)
Danieli Company (Italy)
Myanmar Economic Corporation
In August 2010 rumors surfaced that the Russian Company will stop
construction temporarily, transferring operations to Burmese companies
Shwe Myanmar, Kan Baw Za, Htoo Trading and Asia World.

Exploiting workers
Hundreds of construction workers from Middle Burma are working in
the factory compound without receiving wages they were promised.
Due to these conditions, 185 workers stopped working and went home
during August this year. The company recruited 67 new workers but
they are finding the situation too difficult without adequate salaries.

Water diversion - Water pollution

Water will be diverted from Thabet stream to be used in cleaning and
processing the iron ore. Already it has been polluted during construction of
the factory. Thabet Stream is the main water source for agriculture in the
Hopone valley upon which 35,000 people depend. Plans for cleaning and
releasing the water have not been disclosed.

Downstream of the factory, where the stream is used for drinking and
bathing, villagers have reported unusual stomach illnesses. In May this
year five villagers died after using the stream. Despite the fatalities, no
agency has investigated the cause of the illnesses or deaths. This lack of
monitoring and protection mechanisms will become more deadly when the
iron processing begins at the factory, as the release and/or a leak of toxic
tailings will endanger all those relying on the stream.
Forced to move - dead or alive
Pone Zin village, located northwest of the iron factory, was set up in 1993 after it had been forced to move by Military Communica-
tion Battalion 212. Since 2004 when construction of the Pinpet iron factory began, the villagers have been facing forced relocation
again. In April the company forced villagers into “selling” more than 100 acres of land at the low price of 100,000 kyat (US$100) per
acre. Project officers have now warned that the whole village will have to move after the elections in November. The community
graveyard will be dug up in December and villagers have no idea where their dead relatives will be put.

“Although I only have a few acres of cultivation lands, they (companies) already confiscated them. I have nothing now.
But I want to die here. I have no more energy to move again to a new place.”

Pone Zin village, which faces relocation

Villagers praying on Pinpet mountain

Powering Pinpet – a trail of abuse

The 250-mile pipeline that transfers natural gas from Magwe to the iron factory has destroyed villagers’ farmlands along its route.
In northern Shan State hundreds of farmers have been impacted by the Kehsi Mansam mine that will send coal to Pinpet to burn
for processing the iron. Meanwhile, two villages have been relocated and several hundred acres of farm lands confiscated for
the Tigyit coal power plant 40 miles from the Pinpet project. Although local people in the Tigyit area have lost their lands and face
serious air and water pollution, they cannot access any energy produced by the power plant as it is sent off to the Pinpet factory
and other industrial projects.
Torture and killings for project security
Burma Army Light Infantry Battalions (LIB) 423, 424, 425 and 426 based in Hsi
Hseng and Ban Yin have been patrolling along the mountain range east of Hopone Knife wound inflicted on villager
Valley for the Pinpet iron mine and steel mill project security. by soldiers of Burma Army LIB 423

As the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S) and the Pa-Oh National Liberation Army
(PNLA) are actively resisting the Burma Army in the area, the situation remains
unstable. In May 2009 after a clash with the PNLA, villagers were interrogated and
tortured by Burma Army soldiers. A 15-year old girl was raped and one man’s hands
were cut off.

On February 13 2010, LIB 423 arrested seven men from Sainfrinar village for
allegedly supporting an armed group. The following night the soldiers violently
interrogated the villagers and two of them were killed. The families did not get a
chance to see or retrieve their corpses. The remaining five villagers are being held
in the detention center at No-2 police station in Taunggyi until today.

In that same month nearly 300 people from 2 villages were forced to flee after
continuing abuses by the Burma Army. Soldiers from LIB 423 then came into the
abandoned villages and destroyed the houses, taking the wood and zinc materials
back to their post in Hsi Hseng.

Taking lands
By June 2009 7,000 acres of vital farms and lands had been confiscated
for the factory compound. Farmers did not receive compensation. In
September 2010 project officials offered 5,000 kyat (US$ 5.34) per acre
in compensation for over 1,000 acres that had been destroyed in seven
villages. All the villagers from Poung Taw Choke village refused to accept
the paltry amount.

From March - April 2010 an additional 300 acres were confiscated by

project authorities to construct a new building near Pone Zin village.
Villagers have also been intimidated into signing agreement papers for
giving up their lands and forced to “negotiate” the “sale” of their land for
prices far below market rates. One villager said “We didn’t want to sell our
land. But we sold because we are afraid of them.”

The project must be stopped before Mount Pinpet disappears to open pit mines and Thabet Stream becomes seriously
contaminated. Farmers are losing their lands and face imminent forced relocation. At the same time while the political situation
remains unstable, innocent villagers are being held hostage to investment security measures.

PYO therefore calls for:

• The Pa-Oh National Organization (PNO) Party to defend the rights of local people suffering from the impacts of Pinpet mining
project
• Companies to stop the project and withdraw their investment until the situation is more stable, there are public impact
assessments, and local people can participate in development decisions
• The government in Burma to disclose mining and nuclear plans to the public
• Adequate compensation to be provided to people already affected by the project

Pa-Oh Youth Organization (PYO)

This briefing is an update of PYO’s report Robbing the Future published in June 2009.
To view the report and see video footage from Pinpet, please visit

Email: pyorg.net@gmail.com http://pyo-org.blogspot.com/ Published in 2010 October